TAIPEI: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te departed on Saturday (Nov 30) on a week-long tour of the Pacific that features a stopover in Hawaii, which has ignited fiery threats from Beijing.
China considers self-governed Taiwan to be a part of its territory and opposes any worldwide recognition of the island and its declare to be a sovereign state.
Lai, on his first journey overseas since taking workplace in Might, will cease over in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam as he visits Taiwan’s allies Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau.
They’re the one Pacific island nations among the many 12 remaining allies that recognise Taiwan, after China poached others with promises of aid and investment.
The journey has elicited a livid response from China, which has vowed to “resolutely crush” any makes an attempt for Taiwan independence.
China and Taiwan have been dominated individually since 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces had been defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island.
“TAIWAN MATTERS”
Taiwan lives beneath the fixed risk of an invasion by China, which has refused to rule out utilizing pressure to carry the island beneath its management.
Beijing deploys fighter jets, drones and warships round Taiwan on a near-daily foundation to press its claims, with the variety of sorties growing lately.
Taiwanese authorities officers have beforehand stopped over on US soil throughout visits to the Pacific or Latin America, angering China, which has generally responded with army drills across the island.
Lai’s tour of the Pacific was a possibility for him “to point out these international locations and the world that Taiwan issues”, mentioned Bonnie Glaser, a Taiwan-China affairs knowledgeable on the German Marshall Fund of the US.
“I believe that the Individuals’s Republic of China all the time desires to depart the impression that Taiwan is remoted and it’s depending on the PRC,” Glaser advised AFP, utilizing China’s official identify.
“When Taiwan’s president travels outdoors Taiwan, it is a reminder that there are international locations on the earth that worth their diplomatic relationships with Taiwan,” she mentioned.
“And naturally, when he transits the US, it is a reminder, I believe, to the general public of Taiwan, that the US and Taiwan have an in depth partnership.”